Letter to the Editor: We all need to hold the president, and each other accountable

Published 3:28 pm, Thursday, January 26, 2017

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Letter to the Editor: We all need to hold the president, and each other accountable

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The White House press secretary made a startling claim at a press conference Jan.21, stating that Friday’s turnout was “the largest audience to witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the world.” This isn’t true. The inauguration had lower TV ratings and in-person attendance than Obama’s first. The press secretary used lying and intimidation in an attack on reality. This should distress every American, whether you’re conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican, voted for Trump or not.

The size of the crowds shouldn’t be a major concern of our new president or his administrative team. He is the leader of the free world, and America isn’t a reality TV show. We’ve never had a president from any political party use lies and fear in order to attack the press and attempt to strong-arm them into reporting alternate versions of reality because our leaders don’t like the facts. That’s what dictators do, not American presidents. A free and independent press is vital to a functioning democracy. Our press isn’t perfect, they make mistakes and often pursue stories for high approval ratings rather than content. Abandoning our free and independent press isn’t the answer, demanding they report the facts is.

From now on we need to hold each other accountable. Press, hold yourselves accountable by standing together in the face of fear and intimidation. Work together as a collective to call out attacks on the truth. Report the information that needs to be reported, not what feeds your bottom line. Friends, family and neighbors, hold yourselves accountable by doing your research, and defending the truth. State the facts when others deny them. Trust what you see with your own eyes. We all need to work together to hold the president and his cabinet accountable. The new president has the lowest approval ratings of any president coming into the White House in modern history. Lying won’t change this fact, but working for all of us will. He should spend less time worrying about his popularity, and more time working on improving this country for all of us.